The Shatuo Heavenly Domain was vast beyond measure, even a Saint King would need nearly a month to cross from one end to the other.
Yet You God and Fourth Jia Blood Ancestor reached its edge in an instant.
The two gods were overjoyed, as long as they escaped the Shatuo Heavenly Domain, they’d enter another world’s territory, and the Moon God wouldn’t dare pursue them further.
Originally, they’d hoped to seize this chance to cripple Empress Chi Yao and the Moon God, bolstering the Paradise Realm’s prestige, but their plan had backfired spectacularly.
This time, their overconfidence had reduced them to fleeing like stray dogs, an utter loss of face.
But their escape seemed too simple…
“Is the Shatuo Heavenly Domain a place you can come and go as you please?”
Suddenly, the Moon God appeared ahead, standing atop the Sun-Moon Crystal Coffin.
A pristine full moon rose behind her, growing larger, blocking You God and Fourth Jia Blood Ancestor’s path.
“How can she be so fast?”
Their hearts jolted.
They had no desire to share Lord Yan’s fate, exchanging a glance, the two gods lowered their stance, clasping their fists.
Fourth Jia Blood Ancestor spoke with an apologetic tone, chuckling, “You God and I only闯入 (intruded into) the Shatuo Heavenly Domain out of urgency to save lives, we meant no offence to the Moon God. Next time we visit, we’ll surely send a formal notice in advance.”
You God, strikingly beautiful—though not on par with the Moon God or Chi Yao—could still be called a peerless beauty. She said, “That new Kunlun Realm god killed indiscriminately, provoking us first, we were forced to act. The Guanghan Realm’s losses will be borne by me, Fourth Jia Blood Ancestor, and Lord Yan, we’ll certainly compensate you.”
Lord Yan hadn’t fallen, merely suffered grievous wounds.
Moreover, as his divine body shattered, Empress Chi Yao had used the Blood-Dripping Sword to siphon off vast amounts of his divine blood.
Though he’d reformed his body, he was drastically weakened. Without divine springs or medicine, even a century might not restore him fully.
Now, Lord Yan seethed with resentment, hating both the Moon God and Empress Chi Yao.
But he knew he’d met a formidable foe in the Moon God today and couldn’t linger in the Shatuo Heavenly Domain, so he fled in another direction.
Lord Yan sought escape, but Empress Chi Yao gave him no quarter, pursuing him, unleashing sword beams that pierced the heavens, beating him like a drowned dog, worsening his injuries.
Gritting his teeth, flames spilling from his mouth, Lord Yan roared, “Chi Yao, you’ve gone too far, dare you wait until I recover my peak strength, then face me in a divine duel across the stars?”
Empress Chi Yao replied, “You’re not worthy of duelling an empress.”
Lord Yan spat blood in fury—a fledgling god of mere years, her foundation unsteady, dared to look down on him.
“Pfft.”
The Chaos Spacetime Lotus flared with blinding light again, a beam slicing into Lord Yan’s back, leaving a deep gash, more divine blood spilling forth.
His rage intensified, fleeing while hurling threats, “Once the Kunlun Realm battlefield opens, the Heavenly Realm will extinguish your path, plunging you into the abyss forever.”
“Boom.”
The lotus’s unleashed power shattered thousands of li of heaven and earth, space tearing like paper, revealing the boundless black void.
Forced into the void space, Lord Yan found no reprieve as Empress Chi Yao followed, relentless in her pursuit.
The void’s power could indeed destroy all.
Yet a god’s thick divine might could withstand it, barring major void hazards, allowing survival for a time.
But lingering too long risked erosion by the void’s force, even for a god.
Outside the Guanghan Divine Palace on Moon God Mountain.
“Whoosh!”
A black demonic shadow tore through space, emerging from the void.
It was a demon god, right hand wielding a six-faced war hammer, a pair of bull horns atop his head, his massive frame like a small mountain.
Upon appearing, his left hand waved, sweeping all surviving Paradise Realm Saint Kings into a scroll. Then his gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen and the others within the divine rune circle.
“Ha, a mere divine rune circle thinks it can protect them?”
The demon god sneered, his eyes turning pitch black, like twin black holes with immense suction, pulling at their saint souls.
“Damn, there’s… another god…”
The thought barely formed in Zhang Ruochen’s mind before his saint soul felt a heavy blow, his consciousness fading.
From afar, saint realm cultivators in the circle had their souls yanked outward.
Barbarian Sword Greater Saint, with the highest cultivation, resisted the gaze, bending down, pressing both hands onto the Moon God’s divine rune circle, pouring all his Greater Saint power into it.
“Blood Moon Devouring Heaven Formation,” he bellowed.
“Whoosh!”
Instantly, with the circle as its core, countless runes spread across Moon God Mountain, an ancient formation activating.
The jade-white mountain turned blood-red in a flash.
The demon god’s gaze was repelled, forcing him back two steps.
Zhang Ruochen and the others’ saint souls snapped back into their bodies.
But aside from Zhang Ruochen, Xiao Hei, and Zhen Miao, who remained standing, all other saint realm cultivators collapsed.
Xiao Hei and Zhen Miao, terrified, shrank back, burrowing into Zhang Ruochen’s clothes to hide.
The demon god grinned, “So this rune circle is the eye of the Blood Moon Devouring Heaven Formation, no wonder the Moon God dared chase You God and Fourth Jia Blood Ancestor so boldly. Pity a Greater Saint’s power can’t fully activate it.”
He hefted his six-faced war hammer, leaping up, shaking Moon God Mountain slightly, then smashed it down onto the circle.
“Boom.”
The circle blazed with light, a powerful shockwave rippling thousands of li from the mountain.
It held!
But Barbarian Sword Greater Saint, within the circle, spat blood from the impact.
In a blink, the demon god’s second strike followed.
His mission on Moon God Mountain wasn’t just rescue, but to eliminate a threat.
That threat was Zhang Ruochen.
As the demon god appeared, both Empress Chi Yao and the Moon God’s expressions shifted dramatically, realising they’d fallen into the Paradise Realm’s trap.
Empress Chi Yao channelled the Chaos Spacetime Lotus, attempting a spatial leap to cross a hundred thousand li back to Moon God Mountain. But a boundless demonic hand shattered space, striking her, sending her flying.
Then, a towering demon god loomed before her.
Identical to the one on Moon God Mountain, but ten times larger, his aura dwarfed Lord Yan’s and the others’, like an ancient demonic mountain touching the sky, feet planted on the earth.
This was his true form!
The demon god on Moon God Mountain was merely a projection of his divine will.
Seeing him, Empress Chi Yao’s gaze turned icy as never before, “Black Heart Demon Lord, I didn’t expect it to be you, a Kunlun Realm traitor. Someone like you survived the Epoch Tribulation into a second epoch.”
“I was never a Kunlun Realm being, so I’m no traitor,” Black Heart Demon Lord said, gazing down at the dust-like Empress Chi Yao, each word resounding like thunder.
Empress Chi Yao retorted, “Without the Kunlun Realm passing you civilisation and teachings, granting you cultivation methods, how could you have become a god? How could the Black Demon Realm join the Heavenly Realm? You’d have been discovered by the Hell Realm long ago, turned into their food, your world reduced to ruins.”
Black Heart Demon Lord replied, “I reached this height through my own effort and struggle, the Kunlun Realm’s aid was mere external help. Looking back, training in the Kunlun Realm, wasn’t I enduring humiliation? Only through bitter hardship does one rise above. My achievements today prove it all.”
“Your achievements prove only one thing, the Kunlun Realm raised you as a person, yet you chose to be the Paradise Realm’s dog,” Empress Chi Yao said coldly.
Black Heart Demon Lord snorted, swinging a fist at her, a star-sized stone tablet materialising, suppressing heaven and earth, briefly freezing the Shatuo Heavenly Domain’s space.
The tablet’s shadowy surface bore intricate patterns, one of the *Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings*.
…
Elsewhere, the Moon God, enraged, struck with both palms, shattering You God and Fourth Jia Blood Ancestor’s bodies, then raced towards Moon God Mountain.
Suddenly, a massive blood qi vortex appeared in the sky, enveloping her.
The vortex, vast and devastating, swept up mountains and rivers from the ground.
The Moon God’s brows lifted, her expression grave, peering upward.
At the vortex’s centre, countless li away, a middle-aged man with eight blood wings wielded a whisk, his wrist turning slowly.
This was Second Jia Blood Ancestor of the Blood War Temple.
Seeing him, the Moon God said, “I didn’t expect you’d truly become a god.”
The man laughed, “Just one meeting, and Moon God still remembers this junior. Back then, you said I had the potential for godhood, destined to rise above the ordinary. That comment thrilled me my whole life, spurring me onward. Even in the darkest, most hopeless times, it gave me strength to keep fighting. Ten thousand years later, I can finally stand tall and say, Moon God, I’ve done it!”
In his last words, he dropped “senior” for her and “junior” for himself.
He believed he now matched her as an equal.
The Moon God replied, “You think you can face me? It’d take your master Jia Tianxia to stand a chance.”
Jia Tianxia, the Blood War Temple’s supreme powerhouse.
The temple’s later gods—Second, Third, and Fourth Jia Blood Ancestors—lived in his shadow.
The man said, “Ten thousand years ago, you and my master were evenly matched. Over that time, his cultivation has grown, while you slumbered, your power diminished, far from its peak. One advances, one retreats, do you still think you can fight him? Why not let me test how far you’ve fallen?”
The Moon God glanced towards Moon God Mountain, a thought striking her, and she ceased her rush.
